Amazon launches quantum computing service

Amazon Web Services announced three key initiatives as a part of the company’s plans to help advance quantum computing technologies at the re:Invent conference. One of the initiatives is called Braket, a new, fully managed AWS service aimed at scientists, researchers, and developers to begin experimenting with computers from quantum hardware providers (including D-Wave, IonQ, and Rigetti) in a single place.

Another is the AWS Center for Quantum Computing, which will bring together quantum computing experts from Amazon, the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and other top academic research institutions to collaborate on the research and development of new quantum computing technologies.

The last is Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab, a program that connects customers with quantum computing experts from Amazon and its technology and consulting partners to develop internal expertise aimed at identifying practical uses of quantum computing and accelerating the development of quantum applications with meaningful impact.

Quantum computing has the potential to solve computational problems that are beyond the reach of classical computers. It promises to transform a number of areas, including machine learning. However, the application of quantum computing to date has been limited mainly to proof of concept studies with limited practical use. A company statement did not make note of financial industry applications specifically.

“With quantum engineering starting to make more meaningful progress, customers are asking for ways to experiment with quantum computers and explore the technology’s potential,” said Charlie Bell, senior vice president, Utility Computing Services at AWS, in a statement. “We believe that quantum computing will be a cloud-first technology and that the cloud will be the main way customers access the hardware.”

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